Page 21 of Haze's Jewel
I’m feeling better than I have in ages. It’s like all the stress in my life has been lifted off my shoulders. Haze acts as if he has to work hard to gain my favor. He doesn’t know that he’s already my hero for saving my life, taking care of me in the hospital, and providing me a place to stay while I recuperate.
The amazing orgasms last night are just the icing on an otherwise delicious cake.
It’s looking like it’s going to be a wonderful day. My arm isn’t even itching under my cast. Maybe there is some kind of connection between having a shockingly good orgasm and decreased pain? Something related to endorphins. Either that, or it’s a sign that finally my arm has healed. I’ve got an appointment at the hospital next week and with any luck I’ll be getting this damned cast off.
I decide to stop being lazy and get out of bed. My clit tingles as I walk, still sensitive from all the licking last night. I told him once was enough, but he talked me into two more. So, I guess that I should add generous to his growing list of likable attributes.
I clean up in the bathroom and it takes forever to get out all the tangles because I went to bed with wet hair. I make a mental note not to do that again. When I’m done, I head to my own room and dig through the bags of clothing Haze bought me at the mall. Today, I squirm into a pair of jeans because I’m tired of wearing yoga pants all the time. Dressing myself is a bit of challenge, because I can’t put any pressure on my bad arm and fastening buttons is tricky. But if I take my time, I can manage.
After dressing, I go make Haze’s bed and straighten up his small apartment. Instead of cooking myself breakfast, I pull out a slice of cold pizza and munch on it. The pizza he got is huge. The slice I’m eating is almost the size of my head. It’s just as good cold as it was hot. I wash the pizza down with a glass of water, making a mental reminder to get more orange juice at the grocery store. It’s a wonder Haze doesn’t have a coffee pot. I guess he must not care for morning brew—or maybe he just prefers coffee from the coffee shop over the road. After looking around for something to do, I decide to go out and see if Haze needs food or anything.
The minute I step out there are a dozen eyes on me. It’s around eight-thirty in the morning and the place is already slamming. Not entirely surprising, they’re all men. That is except the woman standing behind the counter. I recognize her as Trix. She’s married to Haze’s brother and visited me quite regularly when I was in rehab. She was in the middle of what sounded like a heated discussion with Vapor.
“She called me fat,” Trix’s eyes are glistening, and she looks on the verge of tears.
“Babe, she’s talking shit. Don’t listen to her,” Vapor says soothingly.
Haze is trying to ignore them, but I hear him mutter something about, “Fucking Brittany,” under his breath.
On seeing me, Trix stops her rant and comes over. I notice the top button on her jeans is undone, she looks fantastic as far as I can see, almost glowing. But I guess we all have days when we don’t feel top notch, I sometimes get awful bloating when it’s my time of the month, so I politely don’t tell her it’s open in case she left it unbuttoned intentionally.
She’s always been nice to me and I’m eager to talk to her again. Haze’s head pops up from tattooing some military guy’s back. He gives me a sexy grin and jerks his chin for me to come closer. I’m too embarrassed to go to him with everyone staring me down, sure that they’ll all know what happened between us last night.
Trix grabs my hand and pulls me towards the sofas. “My God, you look amazing. How are feeling? Is your arm still hurting?”
“I’m doing really well. They’re talking about removing the cast in a week or so. I’m still taking pain meds, but I feel a lot better,” I say.
“Has Haze been treating you right? I know how he is with women, so I hope he hasn’t been trying to get you to jump into bed with him right off the bat.”
I press my lips together to stop myself from laughing because she’s not wrong about him. But obviously it’s written all over my face.
She bursts out laughing. “That dirty dog. I knew he was going to try to romance you. He was way too possessive about you during your medical stays.”
I lean over and tell her conspiratorially, “We call that protective, not possessive.”
“Oh my gawd, that man’s a smooth-talking devil and he’s already got you in his thrall. You had better be careful, cause if you’re not, one day you’re gonna wake up with a ring on your finger and three kids begging for pancakes.”
I laugh at that, “I don’t think so.”
Her face goes serious for a moment, “I wasn’t looking for anything serious with Vapor and look how that turned out.”
“You look pretty happy to me, though you’d better watch out when you and Vapor decide to have kids. If multiple births run in the family, then you might get all three kids at once,” I laugh.
I was expecting her to laugh at my lame joke, because twins do run in families. But instead, she pales and starts hyperventilating right in front of me. Vapor comes over and shoots me a dirty look before encouraging her to slow down her breathing. “Calm down. You’re just having a panic attack.”
She reaches out one hand to clutch his cut and gasps, “I can’t deal with this right now.”
“Babe, relax it’s not good, you getting upset.”
I don’t know if it’s me who’s upset Trix, or if there’s something else going on. I get up and back away, appalled at the mess I so innocently started. “Sorry,” I stammer, not really knowing what to do to make this right.
They don’t pay me any mind because they’re wrapped up in each other. Vapor rubs her back, talking her through it. “You’re not having a heart attack, so you can stop clawing at your chest that way, precious.”
“Are you sure? I feel like I am.”
Her big biker states soothingly, “You’re not going to die. Trust me on that, baby.” His tone of voice is encouraging, calming and relaxed. He must have done this before, I think.
Suddenly, Haze is standing behind me. He slips his arm around my waist and draws me back, away from this senseless crisis that I so stupidly started.